by Tom Barnard

“The matrix is a system. That system is our enemy.”
- Morpheus, from “The Matrix”

Welcome to Hell, version 2.0, midway through Bush’s second term, presented to you by the most degenerate, predatory, dangerous gang of corporate criminals in our nation’s history. If you’re wondering how this regime has any fans, you’re not alone. It’s tempting to label parts of the country as “Jesusland,” like the map that circulated shortly after the election, but what we’re seeing is a far-reaching political, mental and emotional manipulation of America, of which the elections were only one part. Think of it as the real Matrix, designed by people who think like machines, and work hard to create the unreality you live and die in. If we’re going to be able to fight back, we have to start by grasping what this Matrix is. So take the red pill, and let’s head down the rabbit hole.

Antonio Gramsci, an Italian revolutionary who died in Mussolini’s jails in the 30’s, spent his last years analyzing how early fascism attracted a wide swath of ordinary working people. The concept he outlined was hegemony, “an order in which a certain way of life and thought are dominant, in which one concept of reality is diffused throughout society in all its institutional and private manifestations, informing with its spirit all taste, morality, customs, religious and political principles, and all social relations…”

Today we have a new hegemony that acts to hide the true nature of a society led by corporate profiteers motivated by greed and an ideology of expansionist conquest. Codified by law, economic relationships enable the banks, the oil companies, the defense industry, and the other usual suspects to call the shots. But political demagogues, media hacks, and televangelist preachers present this developing dictatorship as the “natural” social order, spinning a new Matrix of doublespeak tied to the political and cultural myths we were raised on. We’re treated to High Noon with George Bush as the Sheriff, and Al Queda as the Black Hats come to town to terrorize the widows and orphans, a rose-colored illusion that hides the brutal reality of a predatory vampire sucking the world dry of resources and labor.

“What is the matrix? It is the world pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” Morpheus, from “The Matrix”

You know those songs that are so hypnotic you can’t get them out of your head whenever you hear them? That’s the nature of our present day Matrix: basic themes constantly repeating throughout the political, economic, and cultural narrative we live in. Themes so omnipresent, many people just take them for granted without a second thought. Here’s the main set:

1) America as “the City on the Hill”: How did we get to be the bully that kicks sand in everyone’s face? Easy, we were meant to be that way. Ever since Madison trotted out Manifest Destiny as a cover for manifesting genocide over Indians and Mexicans, our leaders have promoted America as the Chosen Nation. God bats for our team, a very comforting thought to ward off any suspicion that we’re oppressing people the world over. And since he gives white Christians dominion over the world, even unvarnished greed gets a virtuous sheen. As the Calvinism of early America preached, the reward is here and now, not later in Heaven.

2) The Democracy game: Otherwise known as “my team, your team, we’re all on the same team.” Mainly because whoever’s not on the same team rarely gets mentioned in the media, much less run for office, never mind get elected. There’s always a few hair shirt wearers out there of course, but they’re just for show, and to prove how “democratic” the system supposedly is. Meanwhile we get to “choose” which Tweedledum or Tweedledee will carry out policies that perpetuate the system as it is.

3) God has his messengers, and they don’t include you: They do include the Great Leader, currently portrayed by Dubya, attended to by his sycophantic advisors. It was Marx, talking about Napoleon III, that said it best: “Only when he himself takes his Imperial role seriously, does he become the victim of his own conception of the world, the serious buffoon, who no longer takes world history for a comedy, but takes his comedy for world history.” It would be funny if it weren’t so true. Attesting to George’s Divinity is a phalanx of Pharisees, like “Mr. Assassination” Pat Robertson, and James “Kill the Queers” Dobson.

4) Rule of the Experts: In case you’re feeling insufficiently reverent, they have a few secular experts as well. Alan Greenspan for the economy, the Surgeon General for your health, Jessica Simpson to tell you how to look, and Miss Manners in case you get rude. Not to mention politicians, hack writers, media pitchmen, and various other snake oil salespersons, whose basic job is to reassure you that everything is okey-dokey, no matter how strong that feeling of impending doom is.

5) The “free” market: Welcome to the ultimate arbiter of all worth, the market. It’s always right, and it’s always invisible, as in Adam Smith’s “invisible hand.” Unfortunately, the real “hand” is the power of the multinationals descending like a hammer on the anvil of humanity. But Smith’s subterfuge not only allows corporations to get the same rights as people, but hides the real people who are screwing us 8, or 18 hours a day.

6) You’re going to be rich…someday. You too might end up on top, with all the games, gadgets and girls you could ever want. This is the theory behind all lottery games, and several TV shows featuring Regis and the Donald. Of course, it only works if you grew up in the right neighborhoods, went to the right schools, know the right people, …and are already rich.

7) Buy, buy, buy: Speaking of games and gadgets, let’s get the lead out and consume. Just remember that the only answer to every question about your life is “more,” with all those flashy baubles hiding the real nature of the economy. Which includes your precious sweat, South American debt, Indian child labor, and entire sections of the economy rendered up to the military-industrial complex. All hail Boeing, Microsoft, and the Emperor’s Praetorian Guard, Halliburton.

“You are born into a prison that you cannot see or smell or touch, a prison for your mind.”- Morpheus, from “The Matrix”

Why the hard sell? It used to be, back in the day, they’d paint some hazy pictures of the suburban dream, with the 2.3 kids hugging Dick as he came home from a hard day at the office or the auto plant, and Jane spending the day cruising the malls in her Suburban or hanging with the Maytag repairman. But that’s when there was still enough wealth to throw the wage-slaves some extra crumbs, the tax man’s bite was gentler, and the safety net was still intact, at least if you were white and lucky. In those days, the anti-communist crusade was Job #1, and everybody wanted to be us. Guess what? The party’s over, and the operative word now is C-R-I-S-I-S.

Now it’s only the rich that get richer, because only a few parts of the economy make any money, so you’re living on crumbs. The taxman has shark’s teeth, and he’s chewing up and spitting out the middle class all over aging suburban sidewalks. Those that can, get out to the ex-urbs, and their gated communities. Those that can’t end up knocking down minimum wage at Wal-Mart. As for the safety net, social security was the last thread, and you don’t need to be the amazing Kreskin to predict it’s imminent demise. Not to mention oil going to $100/barrel, the currency about to turn into Monopoly money, and the real estate boom about to mimic the dot.com bust. Meanwhile, Mission Accomplished turns out to be nothing accomplished, and everybody wants to do us, not be us. As for global warming, I guess we can ask the former residents of New Orleans about that.

Under these conditions, the carnival barkers have to get pretty shrill to drown out the rising chorus of discontent as the American Dream becomes a nightmare. Our spin conductors are hoping if they keep the train to nowhere moving fast enough, no one will notice. But Dick and Jane are starting to wake up from their valium-and-martini induced slumber to the steady sound of unpaid bills smacking into the front door of Condoland, and they’re not liking it. You can push the Bush polls only so far, they’re still going south, and they’re not coming back.

“They are sentient programs…they are everywhere and they are nowhere.” Morpheus, from “The Matrix”

So what’s next? On the Mexico borders we’ve got cowed boys with guns that are playing some modern-day version of How the West Was Won, as the INS winks at their firearms. Now they’re morphing into Have Gun, Will Travel, to the Canadian border, and eventually some community near you. Meanwhile, Alan Greenspan is telling us the economic party animal is still dancing, even if he’s not buying houses. He’s also not supplying jobs, unless you’re interested in moving to Mumbai, and working at a call center.

Abroad, the Great Satan continues to pick up enemies, not only among casualties from Iran to Afghanistan, but also among other nations who demand their share in the vanishing feast. With oil beginning to replace gold as a precious commodity, the cozy club of nuclear nations are lurching to their feet, lumbering not so gracefully towards a final showdown at the OK corral of oil deposits, be that the Caspian Sea, West Africa or the Arctic National no-longer-a-refuge.

If we’re to survive all this, we need to recognize it, and not be manipulated by it. We like to think we’re beyond all the media hoopla, but most of us have no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes, and too often substitute shallow cynicism for sustained analysis. That’s an ideology that replaces any urge to fight back with a faux hipster pose of “what can you do?” The way we take our power back is the way Neo took his, without permission, and without illusions. Morpheus told him, “you have to let it all go; fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind.” Not bad advice, for starters.